Hostelier

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who manages or oversees a place of accommodation, providing lodging and meals to guests
2. An individual responsible for the operation of an inn or hostel, ensuring guest comfort and service
3. Someone who runs a hospitality establishment, catering to travelers and offering various amenities

Etymology: Latin "hospes" meant both "host" and "guest," depending on who was speaking, and that double meaning survives in the family of words built from it. It gave Late Latin "hospitale," a lodging for travelers, which passed into Old French as "ostel" and then into English as "hostel." The ending "-ier" is the French suffix for a person who holds a role, so a hostelier is literally one who keeps a hostel. The same Latin root produced "hotel," which came into English through French "hôtel." The two words are doublets, both descended from the Old French "ostel" and its later spelling, and they were once close synonyms. "Hostler," which first meant an innkeeper, later narrowed to the person who looked after horses at an inn, showing how this family of words drifted from lodging guests toward the animals they arrived with.

Synonyms: innkeeper, proprietor, landlord

Antonyms: guest